Police briefs: Pickup overturns on Highway 1

A pickup towing a trailer overturned on Highway 1 on Friday, injuring the driver and snarling traffic for about an hour and a half.

The pickup flipped about 2:30 p.m. on northbound Highway 1 near Munras Avenue. The driver, described as in his mid-50s, got out of the truck by the time medical personnel arrived, but had a serious head injury and other lacerations, said Monterey fire Division Chief Stewart Roth.

An air ambulance was called in, prompting the closure of the highway so it could land, but the driver refused to take it, Roth said. He was taken by ambulance to Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula instead.

The highway reopened about 4 p.m.

KING CITY

Suspect arrested in shooting

King City police have arrested a man suspected of shooting at two people in a vehicle Thursday morning.

After hearing reports of shots fired from a vehicle at another car shortly before noon Thursday, police found two people who had been shot at but were uninjured. The two identified a suspect vehicle, and hours later, Mario Arrendondo Jr., 29, was taken into custody, police said.

He was arrested about 7:30 p.m. in the 1200 block of Bluff Avenue, acting Police Chief Bruce Miller said.

He was booked into Monterey County Jail on suspicion of attempted murder, shooting at an occupied vehicle and gang charges.

Officers said he was also found in possession of methamphetamine and bullets that appeared to match shells found at the crime scene.

Miller said the two victims had been attempted murder targets earlier in the year in two separate incidents.

PAJARO

Two shootings occur within 30 minutes

A shooting occurred while Monterey County sheriff's deputies were investigating another shooting from about a half hour earlier.

Deputies responded to a report of a shooting at 15 Salinas Road in Pajaro about 5:40 p.m. Thursday. While interviewing the intended victim, deputies said, another shooting occurred near Hall Road and Las Lomas Drive. In that case, three bullets struck a vehicle.

With the assistance of witnesses and the Santa Cruz County Gang Task Force, deputies arrested Oscar Adrian Franco, 25, and Juan Rodriguez Franco, 23, as the suspects, deputies said.

Deputies said they also recovered a handgun that may have been used in the shootings.